Karen Hunger Parshall's Books

James Joseph Sylvester

Life and Work in Letters

By: Karen Hunger Parshall

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James Joseph Sylvester

Life and Work in Letters

By: Karen Hunger Parshall

In the folklore of mathematics, James Joseph Sylvester (1814-1897) is the eccentric, hot-tempered, sword-cane-wielding, nineteenth-century British Jew who, together with the taciturn Arthur Cayley, developed a theory and language of invariants that then died spectacularly in the 1890s as a result of David Hilbert's groundbreaking, 'modern' techniques. This, like all folklore, has some grounding in fact but owes much to fiction. The present volume brings together for the first time 140 letters from Sylvester's correspondence in an effort to establish the true picture. It reveals - through the letters as well as through the detailed mathematical and historical commentary accompanying them - Sylvester the friend, man of principle, mathematician, poet, professor, scientific activist, social observer, traveller. It also provides a detailed look at Sylvester's thoughts and thought processes as it shows him acting in both personal and professional spheres over the course of his eighty-two year life. The Sylvester who emerges from this analysis - unlike the Sylvester of the folkloric caricature - offers deep insight into the development of the technical and social structures of mathematics.

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340

Publisher

OUP Oxford

Published Date

ISBN 10

0191651214

ISBN 13

9780191651212

Mathematics Unbound: The Evolution of an International Mathematical Research Community, 1800-1945

The Evolution of an International Mathematical Research Community, 1800-1945

By: Karen Hunger Parshall

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Mathematics Unbound: The Evolution of an International Mathematical Research Community, 1800-1945

The Evolution of an International Mathematical Research Community, 1800-1945

By: Karen Hunger Parshall

Although today's mathematical research community takes its international character very much for granted, this ``global nature'' is relatively recent, having evolved over a period of roughly 150 years-from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century. During this time, the practice of mathematics changed from being centered on a collection of disparate national communities to being characterized by an international group of scholars for whom thegoal of mathematical research and cooperation transcended national boundaries. Yet, the development of an international community was far from smooth and involved obstacles such as war, political upheaval, and national rivalries. Until now, this evolution has been largely overlooked by historians andmathematicians alike. This book addresses the issue by bringing together essays by twenty experts in the history of mathematics who have investigated the genesis of today's international mathematical community. This includes not only developments within component national mathematical communities, such as the growth of societies and journals, but also more wide-ranging political, philosophical, linguistic, and pedagogical issues. The resulting volume is essential reading for anyone interestedin the history of modern mathematics. It will be of interest to mathematicians, historians of mathematics, and historians of science in general.

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Page Count

430

Publisher

American Mathematical Soc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

0821821245

ISBN 13

9780821821244

James Joseph Sylvester

Jewish Mathematician in a Victorian World

By: Karen Hunger Parshall

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James Joseph Sylvester

Jewish Mathematician in a Victorian World

By: Karen Hunger Parshall

This text offers a biography of James Joseph Sylvester & his work. A Cambridge student at first denied a degree because of his faith, Sylvester came to America to teach mathematics, becoming Daniel Coit Gilman's faculty recruit at Johns Hopkins in 1876 & winning the coveted Savilian Professorship of Geometry at Oxford in 1883.

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500

Publisher

JHU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0801882915

ISBN 13

9780801882913

The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950

By: Karen Hunger Parshall

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The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950

By: Karen Hunger Parshall

The 1920s witnessed the birth of a serious mathematical research community in America. Prior to this, mathematical research was dominated by scholars based in Europe-but World War I had made the importance of scientific and technological development clear to the American research community, resulting in the establishment of new scientific initiatives and infrastructure. Physics and chemistry were the beneficiaries of this renewed scientific focus, but the mathematical community also benefitted, and over time, began to flourish. Over the course of the next two decades, despite significant obstacles, this constellation of mathematical researchers, programs, and government infrastructure would become one of the strongest in the world. In this meticulously-researched book, Karen Parshall documents the uncertain, but ultimately successful, rise of American mathematics during this time. Drawing on research carried out in archives around the country and around the world, as well as on the secondary literature, she reveals how geopolitical circumstances shifted the course of international mathematics. She provides surveys of the mathematical research landscape in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, introduces the key players and institutions in mathematics at that time, and documents the effect of the Great Depression and the second world war on the international mathematical community. The result is a comprehensive account of the shift of mathematics' "center of gravity" to the American stage"--

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Page Count

640

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691235244

ISBN 13

9780691235240

James Joseph Sylvester

Life and Work in Letters

By: James Joseph Sylvester,Karen Hunger Parshall

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James Joseph Sylvester

Life and Work in Letters

By: James Joseph Sylvester,Karen Hunger Parshall

This book brings together for the first time 140 letters from Sylvester's correspondence in an attempt to separate the fact from the many myths surrounding his life and work --

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341

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199671389

ISBN 13

9780199671380

The Emergence of the American Mathematical Research Community, 1876-1900

J.J. Sylvester, Felix Klein, and E.H. Moore

By: Karen Hunger Parshall,David E. Rowe

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The Emergence of the American Mathematical Research Community, 1876-1900

J.J. Sylvester, Felix Klein, and E.H. Moore

By: Karen Hunger Parshall,David E. Rowe

Cover -- Title page -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Photograph and Figure Credits -- Chapter 1. An overview of American mathematics: 1776-1876 -- Chapter 2. A new departmental prototype: J.J. Sylvester and the Johns Hopkins University -- Chapter 3. Mathematics at Sylvester's Hopkins -- Chapter 4. German mathematics and the early mathematical career of Felix Klein -- Chapter 5. America's wanderlust generation -- Chapter 6. Changes on the horizon -- Chapter 7. The World's Columbian exposition of 1893 and the Chicago mathematical congress -- Chapter 8. Surveying mathematical landscapes: The Evanston colloquium lectures -- Chapter 9. Meeting the challenge: The University of Chicago and the American mathematical research community -- Chapter 10. Epilogue: Beyond the threshold: The American mathematical research community, 1900-1933 -- Bibliography -- Subject Index -- Back Cover

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532

Publisher

American Mathematical Soc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

0821809075

ISBN 13

9780821809075

Taming the Unknown

A History of Algebra from Antiquity to the Early Twentieth Century

By: Victor J. Katz,Karen Hunger Parshall

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Taming the Unknown

A History of Algebra from Antiquity to the Early Twentieth Century

By: Victor J. Katz,Karen Hunger Parshall

What is algebra? For some, it is an abstract language of x's and y’s. For mathematics majors and professional mathematicians, it is a world of axiomatically defined constructs like groups, rings, and fields. Taming the Unknown considers how these two seemingly different types of algebra evolved and how they relate. Victor Katz and Karen Parshall explore the history of algebra, from its roots in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, China, and India, through its development in the medieval Islamic world and medieval and early modern Europe, to its modern form in the early twentieth century. Defining algebra originally as a collection of techniques for determining unknowns, the authors trace the development of these techniques from geometric beginnings in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia and classical Greece. They show how similar problems were tackled in Alexandrian Greece, in China, and in India, then look at how medieval Islamic scholars shifted to an algorithmic stage, which was further developed by medieval and early modern European mathematicians. With the introduction of a flexible and operative symbolism in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, algebra entered into a dynamic period characterized by the analytic geometry that could evaluate curves represented by equations in two variables, thereby solving problems in the physics of motion. This new symbolism freed mathematicians to study equations of degrees higher than two and three, ultimately leading to the present abstract era. Taming the Unknown follows algebra’s remarkable growth through different epochs around the globe.

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Page Count

502

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691204071

ISBN 13

9780691204079

The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950

By: Karen Hunger Parshall

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The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950

By: Karen Hunger Parshall

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640

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691235244

ISBN 13

9780691235240

Augustus De Morgan, Polymath

New Perspectives on his Life and Legacy

By: Karen Attar,Adrian Rice,Christopher Stray

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Augustus De Morgan, Polymath

New Perspectives on his Life and Legacy

By: Karen Attar,Adrian Rice,Christopher Stray

When Augustus De Morgan died in 1871, he was described as ‘one of the profoundest mathematicians in the United Kingdom’ and even as ‘the greatest of our mathematicians’. But he was far more than just a mathematician. Because much of his voluminous written output on various subjects was scattered throughout journals and encyclopaedias, the breadth of his interests and contributions has been underappreciated by historians. Now, renewed interest in De Morgan’s life and work has coincided with the digitization of his extensive library, revealing the extent to which he pioneered and influenced the development of not merely mathematics but also logic, astronomy, the history of mathematics, education, and bibliography. This edited collection celebrates De Morgan as a polymath. Drawing together multiple elements of his activity from a range of publications and archives, its contributors re-assess his academic work, his place in his intellectual environment, and his legacy. The result offers new insight into De Morgan himself as well as the wider circles in which he moved, including his family life.

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Page Count

234

Publisher

Open Book Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1805113291

ISBN 13

9781805113294

James Joseph Sylvester

Jewish Mathematician in a Victorian World

By: Karen Hunger Parshall

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James Joseph Sylvester

Jewish Mathematician in a Victorian World

By: Karen Hunger Parshall

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Page Count

500

Publisher

JHU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0801882915

ISBN 13

9780801882913

The Emergence of the American Mathematical Research Community, 1876-1900

J.J. Sylvester, Felix Klein, and E.H. Moore

By: Karen Hunger Parshall,David E. Rowe

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The Emergence of the American Mathematical Research Community, 1876-1900

J.J. Sylvester, Felix Klein, and E.H. Moore

By: Karen Hunger Parshall,David E. Rowe

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

532

Publisher

American Mathematical Soc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

0821809075

ISBN 13

9780821809075

Book's by Karen Hunger Parshall

James Joseph Sylvester

James Joseph Sylvester

Mathematics Unbound: The Evolution of an International Mathematical Research Community, 1800-1945

Mathematics Unbound: The Evolution of an International Mathematical Research Community, 1800-1945

James Joseph Sylvester

James Joseph Sylvester

The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950

The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950

James Joseph Sylvester

James Joseph Sylvester

The Emergence of the American Mathematical Research Community, 1876-1900

The Emergence of the American Mathematical Research Community, 1876-1900

Taming the Unknown

Taming the Unknown

The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950

The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950

Augustus De Morgan, Polymath

Augustus De Morgan, Polymath

James Joseph Sylvester

James Joseph Sylvester

The Emergence of the American Mathematical Research Community, 1876-1900

The Emergence of the American Mathematical Research Community, 1876-1900

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